Heavy Assault Super Battle Droid - TCW [S2] - Basic (CW11)

These tireless, fearless droids are used in heavy infantry assaults, unleashing an unrelenting onslaught of firepower until the object of their attack is destroyed. They have integrated weapons, such as a built-in arm cannon, and are sometimes used as field officers in the droid army.

The
Clone Wars is
full a tweaked Star Wars characters. And by “tweaked” we
mean characters that we recognize from all
six films but with new or different enhancements
and details that make them unique to The
Clone Wars television series. Hasbro has
to take advantage of every opportunity they
get to retool and repaint figures in The
Clone Wars line. So it works out for everyone
when it’s time to place a retooled figure
in the line. This is the only way that Hasbro
can guarantee the continuation of all-new sculpts
as well as a healthy longevity for the life
of the line. While The
Clone Wars has definitely become
one of the biggest boy lines of all time, it
is still unfamiliar territory for kids and
collectors. Every figure has the risk of being
a poor seller so Hasbro has to carefully balance
the most popular Jedi heroes with characters
who make their debut in the series. For the
most part, outside of clone trooper repaints,
Hasbro has to be cleverer than ever before
so the line doesn’t “back-up” on
store shelves and flop. They have proven success
with the line however and it seems as if it
will continue full steam ahead. When it comes
to making new versions of battle droids, main
characters, and other diverse creatures, Hasbro
has to make the line exciting while using current
tools as often as possible. Without fail, Hasbro
does a really good job at making the reworked The
Clone Wars figures “new enough” and
it takes a way the pain of purchasing a revised
character you may think that you already own.
But in all honesty, we don’t mind this
a bit. Aside from the necessary repacks to
get popular characters back into the main line,
Hasbro really tries to bring something new
to the table every time an existing mold is
tweaked.

Take
for instance the Heavy Assault Super Battle Droid.
We obviously have seen this character before
in the basic figure assortment, but Hasbro repainted
it and retooled parts of it to make it a brand
new figure. And it works as a fine entry into
the quickly developing line. Actually, we saw
this “revised” version of the Super
Battle Droid in the very first The Clone
Wars episode entitled Ambush. So, this character
is very screen accurate. While you may be quite
familiar with the tooling on this massive droid
from the 2008 TCW [F/S1] Super
Battle Droid (No. 12) figure,
you may be surprised to see what enhancements
Hasbro has done to make this particular droid
more menacing. His left arm has been significantly
retooled to be much more daunting and the insignia
on his shoulder clearly shows where this droid’s
loyalties lie. The paint application on this
figure is excellent and a bit better than how
the first version of the regular Super
Battle Droid (No. 12) came out. The grays are lighter
and the lines are crisper making this droid seem
almost tidy in comparison. The finished product
is excellent and he will add a unique flavor
to your droid armies. Heavy Assault Super Battle
Droid is a really impressive retool. Hasbro did
very well for something that is so straightforward.
While this doesn’t look like a new figure
by any means, we think it has enough spark to
make you happy as a collector. And you know you
need to army build these so here is your chance.
We think that while this droid is more specific
than the first version, it came out a whole lot
better. Oh, and it stands a lot better too.

Having
appeared in a multitude of episodes already,
the Super Battle Droids will undoubtedly make
continual cameo and main appearances in The
Clone Wars television series until
the show ends. Does this mean that Hasbro has
a few more retools or repaints coming our way?
We hope so, because although the clones and droids
are quite uniform in nature, the individual characters
do have unique qualities and “personalities”.
And these unique traits are best defined through
the use of distinct markings, different colors,
different weaponry and different insignias. It
is very cool to have such a massive and chunky
Separatist droid in your collection and we hope
many more varieties are on the way, just like
how we get them in the realistic line. We all
have to admit that is it nice to look at a clone
and know that he is Clone
Commander Cody or Commander
Gree instead of just a generic clone. And we
hope this becomes a bit more of a reality for
the droids. We are not looking for the droids
to take over the series, but perhaps more back
story and development could be written to give
the droids a bit more staying power or prominence.
After all, look how popular IG-88 became (and
he has a back story thanks to a tale that he
broke away from his creators). Oh, and the history
of IG-88 certainly had some influence on the
creation of 2008's TCW [F/S1] IG-86
Assassin Droid (No. 18). It
all comes full circle, doesn’t it? We hope
this trend continues in the very exciting The
Clone Wars. This is our opinion of
course, but the series is getting bigger all
the time and there will obviously be more and
more new characters (and droids) coming out way.

Collector Notes

Heavy Assault Super Battle Droid

Status: Heavy Assault Super Battle Droid is a retool of 2008's TCW [F/S1] Super Battle Droid (No. 12) figure and now has an all-new missile-firing left arm. The figure has also been repainted.